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Chapter 564: Choices - Part 2

LET\'S CELEBRATE! IT\'S MY BIG DAY: A WHOLE NEW BOOK, A WHOLE NEW WORLD, A WHOLE NEW HERO! Check out the excerpt at the end of this chapter (added after the chapter was published so you aren\'t charged for the words). I hope you love Zev as much as I do!

*****

RETH

He was stunned speechless. He and Behryn stared at each other—Behryn suddenly no longer angry, but now wary, watching for Reth\'s reaction.

Reth didn\'t know what to say. His head spun with the ridiculousness of it—and a certain conviction that to say that word would lose him his best friend forever.

"But…" he started, then trailed off.

Behryn nodded. "I know."

"But there is no choice!" he said, his voice strangely high and strangled.

Behryn\'s face fell. "Reth, she\'s my mate. She\'s a part of me. I don\'t agree with what she\'s seeing, or how she\'s handling it, but… she\'s my True Mate."

"I know, that\'s my point! There\'s no choice. You can\'t… but I don\'t want… except…"

"Precisely," Behryn muttered dryly. "You see my predicament."

Anger roared within Reth—really? Now? This was what Hollhye had brought upon him? Upon them all? Losing Behryn as Captain wouldn\'t only harm Reth, it could throw the peace of the entire City into ruin.

Behryn\'s eyes got a warning flash. "Don\'t you even think about it, Reth."

"What?"

"She is my mate, and I will be the one to speak with her and attempt to… smooth this out. That is not your role."

"She\'s one of my people—and an old friend. At least, I would have described her that way. Clearly she doesn\'t feel the same."

"Reth," Behryn sighed, raking his hand through his hair. "This isn\'t about you personally. This is about her fear and… and the fact that she has always played second to my job. I never… I never meant for her to feel that way. My role in the people holds no joy if I lose her. But I have to accept that my choices and the pressures I have put us under… they are on me. And she\'s asking me not only to acknowledge them now, but to fix them."

"So fix them!" Reth scrambled. "Make her feel better. Take fewer hours. Whatever it takes. Behryn, if we lose you, it isn\'t only me that will be at risk!"

"I\'m aware," Behryn growled, for all the world like a predator. "But I am also aware that my job is not without risk—especially in the current tension. If we do have rebels among us, if there are plots afoot, they may come after you—or they might figure out that removing me would, at least for a time, create as much havoc within the City. Possibly more.

"When Hollhye threw that at me, I couldn\'t answer it. She was right. If there are still rebels among us—and we both feel certain there must be—I am a target for them. Especially since I personally thwarted their assassination earlier."

Reth clawed a hand into his hair. "Maybe she just needs some time. Perhaps… perhaps you could spend a few days with her and—"

"No, Reth. Honestly… she\'s been working towards this for years. I thought… I never thought she\'d actually draw the line. But she has. We\'re still talking but, she\'s not wavering."

Reth began to pace up and down the trail. The truth was, he\'d been relying on Behryn to keep things working in his increasing absence with Elia returned. He didn\'t just want to avoid the lengthy meetings whenever he could, but as she drew close to her delivery, Reth had planned to hand the reins to his second for a few days, to give his full time and attention to Elia.

There was no one else in the City that he trusted like Behryn. Except perhaps Brant, but Brant, while wise and strategic didn\'t have Behryn\'s relationships with the young guards. He didn\'t know the workings of the warriors, and was often slow to action. Brant had always been a thinker. He had been strong and a skilled fighter in his youth. But he had left those days behind him decades earlier.

He was a male to have on your side, to corral the elders, and keep peace among the councils. He was the male Reth would rely on to keep others in line so that Behryn could stand in his stead. Brant was not the male to lead the city in Reth\'s absence.

He couldn\'t believe it. He couldn\'t believe Hollhye would be so selfish!

He turned on his heel to face Behryn again—who was staring at him with that warning again. "I know it\'s going to create difficulties, Reth. But please… I ask you as your best and oldest friend, not as your Captain: Do not burn bridges with my mate. Please."

"I don\'t want to burn bridges, I want to shake some sense into her! Does she have any clue what she\'s asking of you? What the consequences could be?"

Behryn shook his head sadly. "She is living in fear and blind to anything else. I am trying to talk her around. But every day that passes she\'s getting more frightened because I haven\'t agreed. Not less. Soon… soon I fear she will draw the line and I will have to step to her side of it, or lose her." Behryn swallowed and his voice became a croak. "I can\'t lose her, Reth."

"No, no… of course not," Reth said by rote. He knew the words were true. He knew if he was in Behryn\'s shoes there would be no choice.

And he knew for once, his heart did not lie firmly in the camp of what was right, or true. But he saw his own , selfishness needs.

And that he couldn\'t put those on his friend who was already humming under the tension of this choice.

Reth stopped pacing and stared at Behryn, who watched him with wary eyes. "I don\'t… I don\'t know what to say," he said with a baffled shrug. "I will be entirely honest: I pray the Creator tosses us a miracle and she changes her mind, or softens it somehow. I cannot… I cannot imagine leading without you at my back," he said honestly. "But I will admit, if it were my mate… there would be no choice. So… so I ask you only to give me as much warning as you can, please. Please, Behryn. The tensions—"

"I\'m aware, I assure you," Behryn snapped.

Reth raised his hands. "I wasn\'t laying blame, brother. I am… I am blindsided and seeing these risks and questions for the first time. But… but I love you. You know that. And I love Hollhye too, though I would wring her neck for this if I could, and if she wouldn\'t abandon you for it. I just…" Reth threw up his hands, then let them fall to swing against his thighs.

"I know…" Behryn said sadly, raking his hand through his hair. "I know. Me too."

*****

NEW BOOK OUT NOW! My entirely new character and world is now live! It\'s still in the process of being vetted by Webnovel, but you can find it if you search "Rise of the Dark Alpha":

Zev prowled towards her, all shining, brutal beauty, his chin low and those incredible, piercing eyes fixed on her. He didn\'t stop until they were toe-to-toe and he blocked her view of every other male in the circle.

His eyes dipped to her mouth as he leaned in, his whisper playing on her skin.

"You. Are. Mine."

His deep voice twanged in her belly as the howls of the wolf pack rose from behind him to echo across the mountains of Thana, while the other Chimera protested his claim.

Fighting the urge to stroke his broad, bare chest with her shaking hands, Sasha forced herself to tilt her head and raise an eyebrow. "So bold for a pup who just found his fangs."

The other males hooted with laughter.

Ignoring their taunts, Zev\'s eyes sparked and he leaned even closer, the scruff on his jaw tickling her cheek as he smiled. "So bold for a human who already knows the pleasure of gasping my name."

She shivered when his teeth grazed her ear.

(SEE THE FULL SUMMARY IN THE AUTHOR NOTE BELOW)